…if there’s anything this ol’ Scots Jurassic scribbler has learned in ten years of producing his wee literary masterpieces is that NUTHIN stands still in the publishing industry for long, whether that be in the realm of the self-publishing tribes, or the mystic corridors of the ‘Large Houses’with stables of contracted authors… like many of us, I’ve dabbled, and more than dabbled at times, with self-publishing eBooks on Auntie Amazon Kindle… with paperback printed copies through the slalom of censorship in the Middle East, involving hand-to-hand combat with head buyers at the major retail book distributors in this part of the WURLD… engaged for a short while with a small publishing house… experimented with an agent arrangement for an equally brief spell… both of these latter experiences ending with amicable partings of the way… comes now the latest foray for Master Gallacher… the beckoning universe of…

I love how author Seumas Gallacher describes his feelings on how to be a self-published author. In his eyes this isn’t necessary a “stigma”, it’s a blessing. Thank you Seumas. There is a reason why you’re loved around the world!

…it has been ten years, almost to the day, when this ol’ Scots Jurassic decided it was just ‘time to write that novel we all have in us’… what started as a personal ‘bucket list’ item evolved into an amazing scribbler’s journey, which sustains its magic for me to this day… I trudged the newbie author’s familiar road to literary destiny as so many, many others before me… letters to prospective agents and publishing houses… rejections by the sheaf-load… the first novel tentatively prodded onto Auntie Amazon Kindle… followed by the second, the third, and now #6 is Work-in-Progress… the realisation that the SOSYAL NETWURKS held the key to reaching out to a potential global readership… the building of a blog following… the learning curves (plural!) of proofreading, cover art, editing, pricing mechanisms… discovering various distribution channels… add in the continual scourge of piracy that criminally robs we…

Seumas Gallacher hosts author Tony McManus who informs us writers about book series. Since I am working on a series myself, this of course, is of enormous interest for me. And I’m sure I’m not the only one.

…as a writer of a crime thriller series myself, my pal Tony McManus‘s WURDS are of more than passing interest to me…

BRINGING THE CURTAIN DOWN

Though it may be a well-written prize winner, a one-off book, a stand-alone novel, has little chance of commercial success in today’s reading market. The mass of readers wants recurring heroes, protagonists who return to deliver the goods of more adventures. It’s something a reader can look forward to and feel comfortable with. Series novels are the thing. And looking back, reading of the army of fans who followed Arthur Conan-Doyle and eagerly awaited his latest Sherlock Holmes treat, I feel it’s always been so. Now it’s big time.

Series novels are invariably thrillers in the crime, mystery and espionage genres. Some come about by accident. They begin with a single book, which is then followed by another, perhaps a sequel, and then…

Unbelievable, how my friend, Seumas Gallacher deals with age. Age… the monster that hides in a dark corner to one day unexpectedly jump on us. – Oh yes… it hits ALL of us. Not one person on Earth will be spared. And if that day comes for me, I can only hope I’ll take it with the same humor as this man!

…this ol’ Scots Jurassic scribbler considers himself immeasurably fortunate to have in a global SOSYAL NETWURK countless wonderful friends who p’raps are showing just a tad wear and tear…

…infancy, teens and a few decades thereafter have elapsed in my own existence on this planet… the early ambitions, hopes and travails of a lifetime and career are valued mem’ries… pensionable age arrived a wee while back… but here’s the strange thing… I rarely feel ‘old’… physically of course, the litheness and athleticism these bones and muscles once possessed as a young professional footballer, have faded a touch… ‘ambling’ has replaced ‘sprinting’ as the preferred mode of forward bodily movement… a once-medal-winning tenor voice struggles to reach any kind of upper musical vocal register (although, thankfully, the ability to hold a key remains intact, Mabel)… so, am I about ready to be carted off to the Old Writers Graveyard yet?……

A flashback into childhood to many of us! Who doesn’t remember the good old water-bottle? Even though I have to say, when I was a kid they were a bit further developed than the ones shown here in Master Seumas’ article. Ours already came wrapped into towel-like fabric or I remember our mother knitting a ‘coat’ for another one to make sure our feet didn’t melt away during the night.

…during conversation last night at dinner with some good friends here in the Middle East, where the current daytime temperature approaches 46 degrees Celsius — or 115 degrees Fahrenheit in old money — the topic sum’how arose of winter-time heating in Scotland… one lady in the party hails from that same good country as myself… we seemed to share similar experiences growing up, in council houses and slum apartments which boasted neither heaters nor air conditioning units… these were represented simply by ‘windows’, (and not of the laptop variety)… my comedic God, Master Billy Connolly has often referred to his own infancy and youth in Glasgow’s Partick area, similar to my Docklands Govan upbringing, where coats substituted as extra blankets when the temperature in our bedroom dropped from ‘merely freezing’ to ‘arctic survival test’ levels… the Govan and Partick Scots, however, were not without deliverance… rubber hot-water bottles saved…

Seumas Gallacher gives us all, readers, followers, authors, writers and friends a new chance and a new way to communicate with him. If you’re interested in joining this list, please go to his blog and read this post.

…over the past two or three weeks, I invited folks on my Facebook pages to enlist for a regular direct mailing shot from me, as I felt the lack of a ‘space’in my SOSYAL NETWURKS to get closer to my readers, authors and blogger friends… responses to be put on the list have been gratifying so far… if yeez wanna join it, please let me know either by email to seumasgallacher@yahoo.com or by DM on Facebook… existing friends on all my SOSYAL NETWURKS will only be listed on this one if they specifically ask to be on it, as I abhor anything that even remotely resembles spamming… here’s the first email posting which went out today, to give yeez a wee taster:

Email from Seumas:

July 11th, 2017

Having garnered a not inconsiderable number of you who are willing to communicate directly by email with an ol’ Scots…

…I make no secret of it… I LUV what I do… my day job as a corporate adviser/company troubleshooter/executive coach/management trainer gives me tons of satisfaction… oh, and by the way, it also contributes to paying the bills, always a handy facet… but it will come as no surprise to emb’dy who knows me on here, it comes a distant second to the pleasure of being not just an author, but a writer who gleefully embraces all the SOSYAL NETWURKS that comes with it these days… over the decade or so that my scribbling of the Jack Calder crime thrillers series took over my wee grey cells, I’ve enjoyed the interaction with the thousands of friends that have been amassed through the Twitter, Facebook, Google+ channels, and especially this ‘ere Blog… on occasions when I travel out of the Middle East where I currently…